and make no haste into the Boat they called to him to come away Gentlemen said he I intreat you to excuse my going with you for I now call to mind some extraordinary business which obliges me to stay in Town But his company was too pleasant to be so easily relinquish'd wherefore one of them stepping out of the Boat endeavoured by his importunity to alter his resolution and perswade him to go with them according to his first intention but being not able to prevail he protested he would carry him into the Boat if he would not go willingly so that being unwilling to disoblige them he adventur'd to go although with much reluctancy As they were shooting the Bridge it being low Water the force of the Ebb carried their Boat with such violence against a Loyter that was just gone through before them that she sunk but several Boats presently making towards them they were all sav'd however their design for Bowling at Greenwich was spoiled for that day Having spent some considerable time in the Inns of Court his Relations began to think of disposing of him in Marriage and a suitable Match was enquired after that might answer the largeness of his Fortune At length a Marriage is agreed by the consent of both Families between him and Margaret Daughter to Thomas Lord Coventry sometime Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England whose agreeable Conversation render'd his Life the more pleasant and delightful He had no Issue by this Wife His second Wife was the Lady Frances Daughter to the Earl of Exeter by whom he had Issue his only Son and Heir Anthony Lord Ashly now Earl of Shaftesbury who married the virtuous and ingenious Lady the Lady Dorothy Daughter to John Earl of Rutland by whom he hath Issue two Sons Anthony a Youth of about Twelve years of Age extreamly like his Grandfather both for Person and Parts for which reason he was so dear to him that his Life seemed to be bound up in this Grandsons as Jacobs was said to be in his Son Benjamin's His last Wife was Margaret Daughter to William Lord Spencer a most accomplished and Virtuous Lady whose exemplary Piety is so extraordinary that she may very well be proposed as a pattern for other Noble Personages to imitate her constant custom being to rise by Five of the Clock in the Morning and she usually spends two or three hours there in her private Devotions No sooner did the Fame of his great Abilities reach the Royal Ear but his late Majesty cast a favourable Eye upon him employing him in several eminent Services which he performed with an exact Loyalty to the satisfaction of his Majesty from whose Interest he never departed otherwise then as Hushai from King David when the Tribes of Israel revolted from him in order to the using his Interest for the Service of his Prince and endeavour by his Wisdom and Counsel so to order and influence the Councils and Designs of the Conspirators that they might be the less hurtful to his Soveraign and tend to the overthrow of themselves And it is admirable to contemplate with what dexterous Skill and exquisite Policy he so managed all their Councils as to make them run directly towards and naturally tend to swell the Royal Stream which immediately upon their Ebb flowed so suddenly and swiftly that like a swelling Sea it easily overflowed all those Banks which were cast up to impede its Flux and by its irresistable force bore down all before it until at last it terminated in the full Tide of his Majesties Restoration Like the Generous Hushai never resting until he saw his Ejected Soveraign like the glorious Sun newly escaped from a total Eclipse return to the possession of his Crown and Kingdom His Majesty having December 5. 1639. upon the advice of the Earl of Strafford and Marquess of Hamilton and Doctor Land Archbishop of Canterbury declared his resolution for the calling a Parliament After 11 years interval he was by the unanimous consent of the Inhabitants of the Borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucester-shire chosen to serve as Burgess for that Town Sir Edward Alford being chosen for the other On Monday April 13. 1640. this Parliament opened and were acquainted by his Majesty That he thought never any King had greater cause to call his People together nor more weighty Affairs to confer with them about then himself the particulars whereof he referred to the Lord Keeper By whom they were recommended to the Parliament in an elegant Speech The Parliament sate in debate of those things recommended to them till the fifth of May when his Majesty concluding they were too slow in giving those Supplies he demanded Dissolved them publishing a Declaration thereupon containing an account of his Reasons for that Dissolution This was the fourth Parliament which had been Dissolved by his Majesty In the beginning of our unhappy Troubles he raised a Regiment for the Service of his Majesty and was by him upon the Rupture with the Parliament made Governour of Waymouth being at the same time High Sheriff of the County of Dorset And when he saw that the War would unavoidably break out he summoned by virtue of his Pesse Contitatus the whole County from sixteen years old to meet at Dorchester which is the County Town thereby to engage them to stand by his Majesty But before that day appointed for their Meeting his Majesty sent down Colonel William Ashburnham with a Commission to be Governour of the County of Dorset whereupon he repaired presently to Dorchester and shewed his Commission to the High Sheriff At which time the Sheriff acquainted the Colonel with what he had done in reference to his Majesties Interest by summoning the County wherewith the Colonel was very well pleased But Sir Anthony concluding that the Colonel's being sent to command as Governour of the County notwithstanding his being Governour of Weymouth and high Sheriff of Dorset-shire proceeded from some secret suspition which his Majesty had conceiv'd of his Fidelity perhaps occasioned by the malicious whisperings of some about the King who grew Jealous of him lest the greatness of his Parts should in time have raised him higher in his Majesties Favour and good Opinion then would have consisted with their Interest took Horse the next Morning and went to his own House about 20 Miles from thence the next day he went to his Brothers and from thence to London The day being come for the Counties Meeting they flocked in vast numbers to Dorchester there being scarce a Man in the whole County wanting whereupon the Colonel being informed that the High Sheriff was not in Town went up to the Guild-Hall being accompanied with several of the chief of the Town and told the People That he was glad to see so great an appearance and that they yielded so ready Obedience to the Summons of their Sheriff who was at that time absent telling them that the occasioning of Summoning of them was to engage them to
RAWLEIGH Redivivus OR THE Life Death OF THE Right Honourable ANTHONY Late EARL of SHAFTSBURY Humbly Dedicated to the Protesting Lords By Philanax Misopappas Virtuti Pompeij quae potest Par Oratio inveniri Cicero LONDON Printed for Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultrey 1683. TO THE Most Illustrious and High-born Prince James Duke of Monmouth And to the Right Honourable Anthony Earl of Kent Theophilus Earl of Huntington William Earl of Bedford James Earl of Salisbury Gilbert Earl of Clare Thomas Earl of Stamford Robert Earl of Sunderland Arthur Earl of Essex Charles Earl of Macklesfield Charles Viscount Mordant Philip Lord Wharton William Lord Pagett Ford Lord Grey of Wark John Lord Lovelace Henry Lord Herbert of Cherbury Charles Lord Cornwallis Thomas Lord Crew Who enter'd their Protestation against the Lords rejecting the Impeachment of Edward Fitz-Harris and generously asserted the Commons Right to Impeach any Subject whatsoever Great Sirs THe following Tract humbly offered to your Lordships and for which the Author implores your Patronage is a brief but yet true and impartial History of the Life and Policies the Rise and Fortunes Troubles and Exit of the late Earl of Shaftsbury whose great Actions constant Loyalty and successful Councils certainly are worthy the transmitting to Posterity for whose sake as well as the vindicating his Name and Honour from the bold and confident although ridiculous and groundless Calumnies wherewith the Roman Achitophels have maliciously aspersed him I have endeavour'd to Decipher him and draw his Image according to the best of my skill although infinitely below his Deserts which justly merit the being pourtray'd by a more skilful hand and one whose extraordinary acquirements and admirable proficiency in Politicks renders capable of representing his Lordships wonderful Parts and Abilities in the most apt and lively Touches Especially in regard the malice of 〈…〉 hath somewhat 〈◊〉 his best Feature and unâ—â—â—fully sullyed the most Beautiful and Loyalest of his Actions My Lds. It was the extraordinary Endowments wherewith this Earl was inrich'd that drew upon him so much Envy and swell'd his Adversaries to such an heighth of Malice and Fury fearing lest he might prove their Rival and acquire a greater Interest in the Favour of his Soveraign then they were willing he should Or else it was his imitation of the magnanimous Roman who being Commanded by the Emperor to forbear coming to the Senate and threaten'd with Imprisonment if he presumed to appear in that Assembly boldly answer'd You may do as you will but I must do as I ought Nor had ever any Man larger Experience then his Lordship of the truth and reality of what the famous Sir Walter Raleigh so long since wisely observed That he who follows Truth too near at the Heels may have his Teeth struch out thereby and that he who goes after her oft loseth her sight and himself too Most Noble Patriots I acknowledge that it is no small persecution of your Illustrious Greatness to be thus troubled with the impertinent Address of one so much below you And am very sensible that the Generosity and good Nature of persons who like your selves shine with Glory and Splendor in a superiour Orb frequently draw upon them unnecessary and needless Dedications And therefore I should not have been guilty of presuming to six your Honourable Names to any trifle of mine had not the nature of the thing laid a kind of necessity upon me and furnished me with an unanswerable Argument and sufficient Apology for so doing May it please your Lordships You are all under the same Circumstances and you have like him adventur'd to stem the Stream and dared to be Virtuous when to be wicked and debauch'd is in Fashion And have presumed to be Loyal under the disadvantage of exposing your selves thereby to the malice and rage of a sort of Men who with an Hellish Industry have long endeavour'd to Metamorphise your very Virtues into Vices and Transubstantiate your Loyalty into a Crime You have with a firm resolution and undaunted courage opposed in the very face of danger the ambitious and growing designs of a bloody and malicious Crew who have Burned our City Assassinated our Magistrates Forged Shame Blots and invented Meal-Tub Conspiracies to ruine our Nobility and Gentry And if Divine Goodness had not protected us and disappointed them would have murther'd our Soveraign Massacred our Persons Extirpated our Religion Plunder'd our Houses seized our Estates trampled upon our Laws inslaved our Wives and Children and subjected our Posterity to a Bondage infinitely worse then that of Egypt And whatsoever is Sacred and Dear to us as English Men or Christians must have been sacrific'd to their Revenge for the satiating whereof and to give vent to their fury they would have turn'd the Paradise of the World into an Acheldama And moreover my Lords his Enemies are your Enemies his Reproaches are all directed at and centre in You. You were all to be involved in the same Guilt and made Parties in the same pretended Conspiracy And You were by an imaginary Power derived from that Infallible Fop the Pope all condemned to the same Fate in the secret Consults and private Cabals of Rome as appears by the Scheme found in the Meal-Tub and afterwards more fully discovered by Mr. Dangerfield Nor is it unworthy Your consideration that the time when that cursed Conspiracy was hatching and some Circumstances in the management thereof renders it not altogether improbable that it derived its Original from and was ingaged in upon the success of a certain Story upon the account whereof the greatest of You stands at this day strip'd of all Your Honorary Places But that which further encourag'd me to make this Address to Your Lordships was Your being his intimate Acquaintance and constant Companions his familiar Friends and only Associates with whom he maintained an exact Correspondence and almost daily conversed withal whereby You must necessarily be better acquainted with and have a clearer prospect of the Principles and Temper Designs and Inclinations of his Lordship than any of his detractors can possibly pretend to since many of them never had any personal knowledge of and much less intimate Acquaintance with him and most of them never saw him in their Lives Nor have many of his Accusers notwithstanding their formal and confident charging him with Treason ever born a Part or made a Figure large enough in the World to procure them admittance to his Person or imbolden them to appear in his presence or so much as exchange two words with him in their whole Lives You know his Loyal Behaviour towards and constant cleaving to the Interest of his Soveraign and are surviving Testimonies of the extraordinary Reverence and profound Veneration wherewith he always made mention of His Majesty whensoever you had occasion to speak of him in Your publick or private Discourses nor can You have forgotten his frequent lamenting his own unhappiness in being so strangely mis-represented
That he whose Counsels had been so successful in contriving His Restoration might be highly necessary and very much conduce to the Establishment of Him in His Kingdom and to shew the extraordinary Esteem he had for his Parts and Abilities he advanced him to be one of the first Rank in the Council placing him above his Royal Brother the Duke of Gloncester and even General Monke himself whom his Majesty use to 〈◊〉 Political Father And having in sundry respects saith Sir William Dugdale in his History of the Baronage of England whom we cannot suspect of Partiality manifested his Loyalty to Charles the First and his great Affection to his Country in the late perilous and difficult Times and likewise to our present Soveraign by his prudent and seasonable Advice and Consultation with General Monke in order to His Majesties Restoration in consideration of these his acceptable Services he was by Letters Patents bearing date at Westminster upon the 20th day of April in the Thirteenth Year of His Majesties Raign advanced to the Degree and Dignity of a Baron of this Realm by the Title of Lord Ashly of Wimbourne St. Giles and to the Heirs Males of his Body This Honour was conferred upon him in the Banqueting-House at White-hall three days before His Majesties Coronation in order to his assisting in the performance of that splendid Ceremony And when his Majesty was pleased to issue out the Grand Commission of Oyer and Terminer for the Trial of the Regicides directed to several Noble Persons choice was made of this Honourable Lord to be of the number of that Court his Majesty deeming him to be a Person whose Prudence and Loyalty render'd him as deserving of the Honour to which his Majesty therein preferred him as any other contained in that Commission And as if his Majesty had so high a Valuation for his Lordship that he thought his profound Parts and exemplary Loyalty merited a perpetual confluence of Royal Favours he raised him at several times to higher degrees of Honour making him Chancellor of his Exchequer Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer Lord Lieutenant of the County of Dorset and one of the Lord Commissioners of the Treasury But all these being too small to compensate his Merits and demonstrate the Royal Bounty and Princely Gratitude of his Soveraign whose Generous Nature inclines him to delight in nothing more then to reward like a King He was advanced to the Title and Dignity of an Earl being in the year 1672. created Earl of Shaftesbury and Lord Cooper of Paulet to him and the Heirs Males of his Body by Letters Patents bearing date at Westminster upon the 23 d. day of April in the Twenty Fourth Year of his Majesties Raign And in November following upon the Resignation of Sir Orlando Bridgeman his Majesty to gratifie the uninterrupted good Services of the Earl of Shaftesbury Chancellor of his Exchequer and one of the Lord Commissioners of the Treasury was pleased to give unto him the Keeping of the said Great Seal with the Title of Lord High Chancellor of England these are the words of the Gazette being the second Person that had enjoyed that Title since his Majesties Raign Whereby he was placed by his Great Master in the highest Orb that any Subject could possibly move in The Kings Conscience being as it were committed to his Care and Management And with what Prudence and Candour Honour and Integrity he acquitted himself in that great and weighty Imployment the Transactions of the Court of Chancery during the time of his Chancellorship will best testisie Justice then run in an equal Channel so that the Cause of the Rich was not suffer'd to swallow up the Rights of the Poor nor was the strong or cunning Oppressor permitted to devour the weak or unskilful Opposer but the abused found Relief suitable to their Distress and those by whom they were abused a severe Reprehension answerable to their Crimes The mischievous Consequences which commonly arise from the delays and other practices of that Court were by his ingenious and judicious Management very much abated and every thing weighed and determined with such an exact Judgment and Equity that it almost exceeds all possibility of belief And because the Traducers of this Lords Loyalty not only reproach him with the Tap which was an unquestionable Mark of Loyalty and Honour it being got in conducting his Majesty to his Crown and Kingdom but have likewise quarrel'd at his constant Faithfulness to the Royal Interest and endeavour'd to abuse every thing he did for his Majesties Service as they have done the speech he made to the Parliament upon the account of the Dutch War And that the World may see the temper of the Men and upon what ground it is they were his Enemies I have set down the Speech verbatim as follows My Lords and you the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the House of Commous THe King hath spoken so fully so excellently well and so like Himself that you are not to expect much from me There is not a word in His Speech that hath not its full weight And I dare with assurance say will have its effect with you His Majesty had called you sooner and His Affairs required it but that He was resolved to give you all the ease and vacancy to your own private Concerns and the People as much respit from Payments and Taxes as the necessity of His Business or their Preservation would permit And yet which I cannot but here mention to you by the Crafty insinuations of some ill affected persons there have been spread strange and desperate Rumours which your Meeting together this day hath sufficiently proved both malicious and false His Majesty hath told you that He is now engaged in an important very expensive and indeed a War absolutely necessary and unavoidable He hath referred you to His Declaration where you will find the Personal indignities by Pictures and Medals and other publique affronts His Majesty hath received from the States their Breach of Treaties both in the Surinam and East-India business and at last they came to that heighth of Insolence as to deny the honour and right of the Flag though an undoubted Jewel of this Crown never to be parted with and by them particularly owned in the late Treaty of Breda and never contested in any Age. And whilest the King first long expected and then solemnly demanded Satisfaction they disputed His Title to it in all the Courts of Christendom and made great Offers to the French King if he would stand by them against us But the most Christian King too well remembred what they did at Munster contrary to so many Treaties and solemn Ingagements and how dangerous a Neighbour they were to all Crowned heads The King and His Ministers had here a hard time and lay every day under new Obloquies Sometimes they were represented as selling all to France to make this War Portsmouth Plymouth and Hull were to be given into the
thrown down or some such like ominous accident had happened and with abundance of earnestness renewed the motion for calling the Duke to the Bar but there were too many Lords between for that motion to succeed and advice was brought every moment from the House of Commons that the things was yet in agitation among them which gave his Lordship an opportunity to appear with extraordinary vigour in defence of the Duke's Person and his Proposal so that the Earl seem'd more properly another Principle than the Duke's Second Whereupon the Lord Chancellor therefore undertook on the contrary to make the Prorogation look very formidable laying the best colour upon it and the worst upon his Opponants Thus for five or six hours it grew to be a fixed Debate many arguing it on both sides in a regular method until they received the welcome News that the Commons were risen without doing any thing whereupon the greater number called for the Question and had it in the affirmative that the Debate should be laid aside And thus being flasht but not satisfied with their Victory they fell desperately upon them who had affirmed the dissolution the same night and the next day voted his Lordship with the Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton to be commited to the Tower under the Notion of Contempt during his Majesties and the Houses pleasures The Contempt for which they were committed was their refusing to recant their Opinions and ask pardon of the King and the House of Lords notwithstanding the liberty and freedom of Speech which His Majesty verbally and of course allows them at the opening of every Parliament The Warrant for the committing his Lordship together with the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton ran Thus ORdered by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled That the Constable of his Majesties Tower of London his Deputies shall reserve the Bodies of James Earl of Salisbury Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury and Philip Lord Wharton Members of this House and keep them in safe Custody within the said Tower during his Majesties Pleasure and the Pleasure of this House for their high Contempts committed against this House And this shall be your sufficient Warrant on that behalf J. Brown Cler. Par. To the Constable of the Tower THE four Lords continued in the Tower so long that the Parliament was several times Adjourned during their Confinement which his Lordship bore with abundance of patience and incredible chearfulness considering the many weaknesses and infirmities of Body he then laboured under They expected to have been Released at least of course by Prorogation but Adjournments was so much in use at that time that it made them despair of being releived that way wherefore finding no end of their Captivity they looked upon the procuring their Liberty to deserve as much care as others took to retain them in durance to which end they each of them chose the method he judged most proper The Duke of Buckingham the Earl of Salisbury and the Lord Wharton upon their application to His Majesty by a Petition were enlarged But Shaftsbury could not come off so for having made his Addresses to His Majesty in an humble Petition to be restored to his Liberty and the Favour of his Majesty he found the Royal Earl deaf to his Sute and no relief to be obtained that way Whereupon his Lordship applied himself to the Court of Kings-Bench the constant Residence of His Majesties Justice whether he was brought Wednesday Jan. 27. 1677. upon the Return of an Alias Habeas Corpus directed to the Constable of the Tower and there being some dispute about the sufficiency of the Return his Council prays to have the Return filled and Friday appointed to debate the sufficiency of it which being granted the Earl was re-manded back again unto the Tower On Friday morning his Lordship was brought up again and then the Case was strongly and learnedly argued on both sides and after the discussing the Point about the sufficiency of the Return then Mr. Williams Mr. Wallop and Mr. Smith who were Council for his Lordship gave divers weighty Reasons in the Earls behalf that the Court might and ought to relieve him The Attorney and Solicitor Generals argued the contrary shewing divers Causes why that Court could not relieve a person committed by Parliament So soon as they had done the Earl stood up and in an Elegant Speech spake for himself and directing him self to the Court delivered himself to this Effect MY LORDS I Did not intend to have spoken one word in this business but something hath been objected and laid to my charge by the Kings Council Mr. Attorney and Mr. Solicitor that inforces me to say something for your better satisfaction They have told you that my Council in their Arguments said That this Court was greater than the House of Peers which I dare to appeal to your Lordships and the whole Court that it was never spoken by them I am sure it was not spoken by any direction of mine What is done by my Council and by me is That this Court is the most proper place to resort unto in those Cases where the Liberty of the Subject is concerned The Lords House is the Supream Court of Judicature in the Kingdom but yet there is a Jurisdiction which the Lords House do not meddle with The Kings Council mentioned as a wonder that a Member of the Lords House should come hither and thereby diminish the Jurisdiction of that Court I acknowledg them to be superiour to this or any Court in England To whom all Appeals and Writs of Error are brought and yet there is a Jurisdiction that they do not challenge and which is not natural to them or proper for them They claim not to meddle in Original Cases and so I might mention in other things And I do not think it a kindness to any Power or Body of Men to give them a Power or Jurisdiction which is not natural or proper to their Constitutions I do not think it would be any kindness to the Lords to make them absolute and above the Law for so I humbly conceive this must do if it be adjudged that they by a general Warrant or without any particular Cause assigned do commit me or any man to a perpetual and indefinite Imprisonment And my Lords I am not so inconsiderable a person but what you do in my Case must be Law for every man in England Mr. Attorney is pleased to say I am a Member of the Lords House and to lay wait on the word Member It 's true I am one of them and no man hath a greater reverence and esteem for the Lords than my self But I hope my being a Peer or a Member of either House shall not lose my priviledg of being an English-man or make me to have the less Title to Magna Charta or the other Laws of English Liberty My Opinion is not with one of my
Council who argued very learnedly that the passing an Act by the Kings Royal Assent can not make a Session because the usual Promise was not in it It was without any instruction of mine that he mentioned that Point The Kings Council tells your Lordships of the Laws and Customs of Parliaments and if this were so I should submit but this Case of mine is primae impressionis and is a new way such as neither Mr. Attorney nor Mr. Solicitor can shew any President of and I have no other remedy or place to apply my self to than the way I take Mr. Attorney confesseth that the Kings Pleasure may Release me without the Lords if so this Court is Coram Rege This is the proper place to determine the Kings Pleasure This Court will and ought to judge of an Act of Parliament null and void if it be against Magna Charta much more may judge an order of the House that is put in Execution to deprive any Subject of his Liberty And if this Order or Commitment be a Judgment as the King's Council affirms then it is out of the Lords hands and properly before your Lordships as much as the Acts which were lately passed which I presume you will not refuse to Judge of notwithstanding Mr. Attorney General saith this Parliament is yet in being yet I take it something ill that he tells me I might have applied elsewhere My Lords they speak much of the custom of Parliament but I do affirm there is no custom of Parliament that ever their own Members should be put out of their own power and the inconveniences will be endless Mr. Attorney was pleased easily to ansiver the Objection of one of my Council if a great Minister be so committed he hath the Cure of a Pardon a Prorogation or a Dissolution But if the Case should be put why forty Members or a greater number may not as well be taken away without Remedy in any of the King's Courts he will not so easily answer And if there can be no relief in this Case no Man can foresee what will be hereafter I desire your Lordships well to consider what Rule you make in my Case for it will be a president that may in future Ages concern every Man in England My Lord Mr. Attorney saith you either can release or remand me I differ from him in that Opinion I do not insist upon a Release I have been a Prisoner above five Months already and came hither of necessity having no other way to get my Liberty and therefore am very willing to tender your Lordship Bail which are in or near the Court as good as any are in England either for their Estate or Quality and I am ready to give any sum or member My Lords this Court being now possest of this business I am now your Prisoner The Court having heard all that could be said pro and con on both sides delivered their Opinions Seriatim one of the Judges indeed was not there in Person but he adventured hower to shew the exactness of his Justice to depute Judge Jones to speak for him when it came to his turn and declare although he had not heard what his Lordships Council or himself could say that it was his Opinion his Lordship ought to be remanded and the rest of the Court unanimously concurring with the Opinion of their absent Brother he was by them remanded back again to the Tower according And thus his Lordship being denied redress in the Court of Kings-Bench remained a Prisoner in the Tower until the February following and then on the fourteenth of that Month the Parliament being then sitting he presented a Petition to the House of Lords wherein he makes a very humble submission both to His Majesty and the House of Peers but they objecting against the Petitions he had presented to His Majesty as not having made a satisfactory acknowledgment of his Crimes after some debate rejected this Petition Whereupon the weak condition he was then brought into by his confinement requiring speedy enlargement he presented another Petition to His Majesty and likewise to the House of Lords in both which he renued his Supplication to be released from his imprisonment And not only acknowledged with all humble submission That his endeavouring to maintain the Parliaments being Dissolv'd was an ill advised Action and so must every Man acknowledg who will strive in vain to sail against Wind and Tide but in the most submissive Terms assured them that he was ready to make what further acknowledgment and submission they should require and that in the way and manner too which they should please to direct yet unfortunate Earl he could not obtain his Liberty upon these Terms neither another pretence being then laid hold on for the prolonging his Imprisonment Which was the horrid Crime of endeavouring his enlargment by applying himself to the Court of Kings-Bench in order to his being admitted to Bail And yet a certain Gentleman in the World who had at that time a mighty influence upon Affairs and improved this imaginary fault as much as possible to the prejudice of the Earl hath since that time been himself guilty of the supposed Crime And not only so but hath rendred himself also more pertinacious therein by his reiterated applications to that Court to take Bail for him His Lordships Second Petition to the House of Lords was as follows To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament Assembled The humble Petition of Anthony Earl of SHAFTSBVRY Sheweth THat your Petitioner on the 16th of February 1676. was committed Prisoner to the Tower of London by your Lordships because he did not obey your Lordships Order where he hath continued in close confinement to the great decay of his Health and danger of his Life as well as prejudice of his Estate and Family In all humble Obedience therefore unto your Lordships he doth acknowledge That his endeavouring to maintain that this Parliament is Dissolved was an ill advised Action for which he humbly begs the Pardon of the King's Majesty and of this most Honourable House and doth in all humble Duty and Observance to your Lordships beseech you to believe that he would not do any thing willingly to incur your displeasure Wherefore your Petitioner in all humble Duty and Obedience both to His Majesty and your Lordships hath made his humble submission and acknowledgment in his most humble Petition unto the Kings most Sacred Majesty and is ready to make his further submission to His Majesty and this Honourable House according to the direction thereof And he doth most humbly implore your Lordships that you will be pleased to restore him to your favour and discharge him from his Imprisonment And your Petitioner c. SHAFTSBVRY THis Petition being read the Lord Chancellor acquainted the House that His Majesty had received a Third Petition from the Earl of Shaftsbury more submissive than the two former But His Majesty understanding
that he had endeavoured to free himself from the censure of this House by appealing to the Kings-Bench to have there judgment thereupon during the late Adjournments doth not think fit as yet to signifie his pleasure as to his discharge until this House hath taken that matter into consideration Upon which the Lords refusing to make an Address to His Majesty for his Lordships discharge entered into a debate concerning his Appeal from their House to the Kings-Bench for an Habeas Corpus but not being able to come to any Resolution about it that day the next day it was resumed again and the Records of the Kings-Bench produced by which it did appear that two Rules of Court had been obtain'd upon the motion of his Lordships Council and the returns thereupon were read by which it did appear that the Earl had been committed the 16th of February 1676. for a Contempt committed against the House of Lords and then the remitture of the Earl to the Tower was read After this a Petition from his Lordship to the House was read wherein he took notice of an Order of the House for bringing thither the Records of the Kings-Bench Court concerning the matter of an Habeas Corpus brought by him acquainting them that he took himself to be very much concern'd that they should enter into a debate of that Nature in his absence since he had an undoubted Right to be present and plead for himself when a debate of any new matter against him was entred upon and that although he could not pretend but that there might be a probability of his having err'd for want of a President to guide him and being deprived of the benefit of Council by reason of his close confinement yet he resolved not to do any thing willingly that might in the least offend His Majesty or their Lordships and therefore humbly laid hold of that opportunity to give further Evidence thereof by casting himself at their Lordships feet and as he humbly begg'd the Pardon of His Majesty so he also implored the forgiveness of their Lordships for offending them in any thing whatsoever The debate was somewhat long but at last it came to this Issue They Resolved and Declared That it was a breach of the priviledge of that House for any Lord committed by them to bring an Habeas Corpus in any inseriour Court to free himself from that Imprisonment during the Session of Parliament and that the Earl of Shaftsbury should have Liberty to make his full defence notwithstanding the Resolution and Declaration aforesaid Friday February 22d The Lords directed a Warrant to the Constable of the Tower to bring his Lordship to their Bar on the Monday following The Earl of Northampton then Constable of the Tower accordingly brought him where kneeling at the Bar he received an account from the Lord Chancellor of the Resolutions of the Lords concerning his Appeal to the Court of Kings-Bench whereupon his Lordship stood up and made his reply to this Effect MY LORDS I Have presum'd to present two Petitions to this Honourable House The first your Lordships mention I do again here personally renew humbly desiring that I may be admitted to make that humble submission and acknowledgment your Lordships will please to Order And that after a Twelvemonths close Imprisonment to a Man of my Age and Infirmities your Lordships will Pardon the folly and unadvisedness of any of my Words or Actions And as to my Second Petition I most humbly thank your Lordships for acquainting me with your Resolution and Declaration in the Point and though Liberty be in it self very desireable and as my Physitian a very Learned Man thought absolutely necessary to the preservation of my Life yet I do profess to your Lordships upon my Honour that I would have perish'd rather than have brought my Habeas Corpus had I then apprehended or been inform'd that it had been a breach of the Priviledge of this Honourable House it is my Duty it is my Interest to support your Priviledges I shall never oppose them My Lords I do fully acquiesce in the Resolution and Declaration of this Honourable House I go not about to justifie my self but cast my self at your Lordships feet acknowledge my Error and humbly begg your Pardon not only for having brought my Habeas Corpus but for all other my Words and Actions Then was one Blany called into the House who had delivered a Paper to the Lord Treasurer pretending to give an account of some words spoken by his Lordship in the Court of Kings-Bench when he moved to be bailed there But though this whole Transaction was no longer than since last Hillary Term yet Blany could not affirm that what was Written in the said Paper was really spoken by his Lordship so that the Treasurer not being able to to make any thing of Blanys Story which was an hard Case that so much pains should be taken to so little purpose the House of Lords proceeded to a Resolution in what form his Lordship should make his submission and acknowledgment which being drawn up imported much the same with which he had before Declared which being read to him by the Lord Chancellor his Lordship repeated the same at the Bar and than withdrew Whereupon the House ordered That the Lords with white sleeves should wait upon His Majesty and acquaint him the House had received satisfaction from his Lordship in the matter of the Habeas Corpus and the other Contempt for which he stood committed and were become humble Suters to His Majesty that he would be pleased to discharge him from his Imprisonment and that their Lordships acquaint the House with His Majesties Answer All which was done accordingly and the Lord Treasurer reported to the House That the Lords with white sleeves had waited upon His Majesty according to their Lordships Order And that His Majesty was pleased to make this Answer That he would give Order for his Lordships discharge which was accordingly performed and his Lordship by regaining his Liberty made more capable of serving His Majesty and the Protestant Religion against the dark and misterous designs which were then carrying on against both But although the Lords proceeded with so much rigure and severity against his Lordship who deserved to have been more kindly dealt withal by any who pretend to any Loyalty to their Prince since he made so considerable a Figure and had so great a share in the contriving and management of the happy Revolution in 1666. when they were in an unusual heat artificialy kindled and carefully blown into a Flame by some unseen hand who secretly manag'd the Bellows yet when that heat had spent it self and the House acted with more freedom and deliberation they acknowledge the wrong and injury done to his Lordship and the other Noblemen who were committed upon that account and to prevent that illegal preceeding from being made use of as a President in future times they damned the several
cannot long continue in the English hands if some better care be not taken of it This is in your Power and there is not bing there but is under your Laws Therefore I beg that this Kingdom at least may be taken into consideration together with the State of England for I am sure there can be no safety here if these Doors are not shut up and made sure But His Majesty had another kind of esteem for his Lordship for not long after the making of this Speech having Dissolv'd His Privy Council and chosen a new one he was pleased to constitute the Earl President thereof a Place so considerable for Honour and Trust that it hath not been enjoyed by any Subject for many years and was improv'd by him as much to the advantage of His Majesty and the Protestant Interest as possible And when the Bill for excluding the Duke of York had passed the House of Commons as the only expedient they could find out to suppress the Designs of the Papists and prevent their ever introducing the Popish Religion into England they sent it up to the House of Lords where his Lordship was one of those Honourable Lords who Voted for its passing that House in order to its being offered to His Majesty for His Royal Assent The Grand Jury returned for the Hundred of Osalstone in the County of Middlesex in June the 2d 1680. finding the Constables defective in not presenting the Papists as they ought it was ordered they should make further presentments by the 16th of that Instant upon which day they met again to receive them when likewise a Bill against D. Y. for not coming to Church was brought before them together with the following Reasons for his being indicted subscribed by the persons undernam'd First Because the 25th Car. 2d when an Act was made to throw Popish Recusants out of all Offices and Places of Trust the Duke did then lay down several great Offices and Places as Lord High Admiral of England Generalissimo of all His Majesties Forces both by Land and Sea Governour of the Cinque Ports and divers others thereby to avoid the punishmant of that Law against Papists Secondly 30. Car. 2d when an Act was made to disable Papists to sit in either House of Parliament there was a Proviso incerted in that Act That it should not extend to D. Y. on purpose to save his right of sitting in the Lords House though he refused to take those Oaths which the Protestant Peers ought to do Thirdly That His Majesty in His Speech March 6th the 31st year of his Reign doth give for a Reason to the Parliament why he sent His Brother out of England Viz. Because he would leave no Man Room to say that he had not remov'd all Causes which might influence him to Popish Councils Fourthly That there hath been divers Letters read in both Houses of Parliament and at the secret Committee of both Houses from several Cardinals and others at Rome and also from other Popish Bishops and Agents of the Pope in other Forreign Parts which do apparently shew the great Correspondencies between him and the Pope and how the Pope could not choose but weep for joy at the reading of some of his Letters and what great satisfaction it was to the Pope to hear that he was advanced to the Catholick Religion as likewise that the Pope hath granted him Briefs sent him Beads and ample Indulgencies with much more to this purpose Fifthly The whole House of Commons hath Declared him to be a Papist in their Votes Sunday April 6th 1679. wherein they resolv'd nemine contradicente that the Duke of York's being a Papist and his hopes of coming such to the Crown had given the greatest countenance and encouragement to the present Conspiracy and Designs of the Papists against the King and the Protestant Religion Sixthly That besides all this Proof and much more to this purpose it is most notorious and evident he hath for many years absented from Protestant Churches during Religious Worship These are the Reasons why we believe him to be a Papist this was subscribed and delivered by his Lordship together with the Earl of Huntington and the Lords Grey of Wark Russel Cavendish Brandon and Wharton as also by Sir William Cowper Barronet Sir Gilbert Gerrard Barronet Sir Edward Hungerford Knight of the Bath Sir Scroop How Thomas Thinn Esq William Forrester Esq and John Trenchard Esq But whilst the Jury were in debate of the Matter they were sent for up by the Court of Kings-Bench and dismist so that nothing was done upon it more than the Juries having receieved the presentment Wherefore on Wednesday July the Thirtieth the former Lords Knights and Gentlemen with the addition of the Lord Clare Sir John Cope Barronet Sir Rowland Gwynne and Mr. Wandsford presented the same to a second Grand Jury who were discharged as the former But whilst his Lordship was thus vigorously prosecuting the Popish Plot in the face of danger the Papists were as vigilent in contriving his ruine though with somewhat more secrecy and silence resolving to seize the Prey before they gave the least Alarm or Notice of their intention as appear'd by their close Caballistical Designs carryed on against this Earl and all the rest of the Protestant Nobility and Gentry in England wherein Mr. Dangerfield was a considerable Agent having been for that purpose fetcht out of Newgate by the Papists who hoping to reap a vast advantage by having him to manage their Affairs willingly disburst a large sum to discharge his Debts The first sangunary work they imployed him in was to attempt the Murther of his Lordship promising him 500 pounds for so acceptable a service as they apprehended it to be he inquired the Reason why they thirsted after his Life and how there might be any probable way proposed whereby it might be accomplished to which it was answered That as to the first they should be glad to have him out of the way because if they were rid of him as they were of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey it would be no difficult thing to bear down all the rest of their Opposers As to the second They affirmed it to be as easie as desirable since said the Lord P s my Man Wood was at Thannet House two nights since upon pretence of an Errand but his business was to view the House and observe what conveniences there were to make his escape after the fact was done assuring him that Wood found the thing so feasable that after he came back he declar'd himself sorry that he was not provided to have done it then And to encourage him to undertake this sanguinary enterprise with the more chearfulness he gave him Ten Guinneys in hand as an assurance that the full reward should be paid so soon as the fatal stroak should be given Promising moreover that Mr. Regaut a Virginia Merchant of Mrs. Celliers acquaintance should come to him on Sunday following to instruct him in
the most dexterous and probable means of putting the Design in execution and secure the payment of the 500 l. All things being thus agreed on the Lord P s took him by the hand and wished him good success And to render him the more pliable and active in this designed Tragady he was sent first to the Lord Castlemain then to Sharp the Priest and last of all to Jack Gadbury the Fortune-Teller by all whom he was severely scoulded for not complying with the Popish Lords in their command to kill the King insolently upbraiding him with horrid ingratitude in refusing to perform that for which he was taken out of Prison and maintained in so much splendour ever since Hoping that this chiding might raise in him a magnanimous Resolution to regain the Credit he had lost by that refusal by a Resolute perpetrating the Murther of his Lordship Dangerfield being thus prepared on the Sunday following Regaut came to Mrs. Celliers and having first dined together he gave him general directions how to accomplish the Murder demanding how he would order the Mony to be paid when he had performed the enterprise telling him that if he pleased it should be brought in Guinneys and lest with Mrs. Cellier for him but he disliking the way desired That when Regaut heard that the Lord Shaftsbury was Dead and should receive a Note from him that then he would immediately pay the Mony for his use which he promised should be done accordingly But ordered him to attend on Sharp and some others for more particular instructions how to Act this Tragedy He attended upon them several times before they could resolve what method he should take However to prevent his flaging he was commanded by the Conspirators to repair to Knowles the Priest to confess and receive the Sacrament which he did at Knowles's Lodging at a Coffe-House in White-fryars from whom he received some directions how to proceed in the Murther but Dangerfield telling him that they were silly and impractable Knowles sent him to the Lady Abergaveny telling him that she was a Witty Lady and had some Correspondence with the Lord Shaftsbury and therefore was the more capable of advising him Wherefore he presently repared to her Lodgings at the House of Mr. Grissin in great Lincolns-Inn Fields where he found easie admittance into her Ladyships Chamber upon sending in word that he came from Knowles So soon as he entered he acquainted her who he was and the business he waited upon her Ladyship about Sir said she I have received a very good Character of you and therefore think my self obliged to return you thanks for the extraordinary diligence wherewith you have managed our business hitherto and I hope you will proceed with the like care until you have finished what you have so well begun As for the taking the Earl of Shaftsbury out of the way it 's a thing of no difficulty it being altogether as easie to kill him as to kill a Bird on a Tree Pray Madam which way shall I do it with so much 〈◊〉 and ease said Dangerfield why several waies replyed the Lady it may be done but I would have you pretend to Cure the Gout and my Lord being troubled with that Distemper I will recommend you to him under that pretence whereby you will easily gain admittance which having obtained you must watch your opportunity to dispatch him From thence Dangerfield went to P s's House and acquainted the Countess where he had been and the several waies which had been proposed by Knowles and others for the Murthering the Earl of Shaftsbury but more especially the Ladys Project as being the more likely way to succeed To which the Countess replyed It was but a silly contrivance yet peradventure it might do However she gave him no order to proceed thereon as yet But resolving if possible to make sure work they obliged him to charge his Lordship with Treason by making him one of the Protestant Peers whom they intended to charge with a Conspiracy against the Kings Crown and Life that so if they failed of Murthering him with their hands they might however destroy him with their breath To which purpose his name was inrolled in that List which was found in the Meal-Tub and gave the first light into their Plot which was more fully discovered by Dangerfield's miscarrying in the chief part of their Conspiracy Viz. placing the Treasonable Papers in Collonel Manse's Chamber whereby all was spoiled for that time And Dangerfield being to wait on His Majesty to give him an account of this pretended Plot the Countess of P s gave him directions to lay all the Burthen he could upon the Presbyterians in general but more especially upon His Grace the Duke of Monmouth the Earl of Shaftsbury Lord Grey of Wark Lord Howard of Escrick the Duke of Buckingham and some others And that he should explain to His Majesty the meaning of the Contents of the several Papers he had presented to the Duke who was the person that introduced him to His Majesty to make this pretended discovery and how the Presbyterians were resolved to use their utmost endeavours for the reducing the present Government and setting up a Common-wealth once more and setling His Grace the Duke of Monmouth therein a likely business and that the Earl of Shaftsbury and other persons of Honour were issuing out Commissions for that purpose and had promised some to several persons And having hereby secured this Design indifferently well as they thought and being now come to a Resolution in what method Dangerfield should attempt his Lordships Life they commanded him to repair to Sharp and confess and receive it being their common custom to make them receive the Sacrament and Introduction to the horridest Villanies and the crafty Priest having first palliated the Murther by urging the necessity of it and the extraordinary advantage that would thereby redound to their Cause and Party and so covered the Crime with a Mantle of Religion that he made it appear meritorious He then proceeded with abundance of Formality and Jesuitical Zeal to Conjure him by all that was good or sacred that he should with all possible speed stab his Lordship so soon as he should receive order from the Popish Lords so to do He promised he would and so the impudent Ecclesiastical Villian dismissed him with abundance of costly benedictions and hearty wishes for the happy success of his enterprizes And a Letter coming for the Lords in the Tower which commanded him to go that very night and put their Resolution of stabing his Lordship in Execution he received instructions not to enter into any discourse with him when he had him alone but after a little Apology for his coming to his Lordship without being sent or introduced by any other person and desiring to know whither if it should sall out to be in his power to serve him he should obtain so much favour of his Lordship as to find his service acceptable
And that for the second time he had received His Majesties Gracious Pardon wherefore he hoped those Matters would not be remembred against him now to the prejudice of his Evidence The Earl of Essex demanded of him who had sollicited His Majesty for his Pardon he answered Captain Richardson then his Boy Witnessed that he had Lodged at Powis's House and had been several times at the Lord Powis's Lodgings at the Tower That he had several times sent him with Letters and other Papers to the Lord Powis and that he had brought him back Answers That the Lady Powis had been several times at Mrs. Celliers during the time that Dangerfield Lodged there and particularly on the Saturday was seven night before when she was alone with him in a Room in private discourse about half an hour Then the Lord Chancellor asked him whether he had ever been with the Earl of Shaftsbury to which he replyed He had been several times with his Lordship and had discoursed with him repeating some of those things which had passed between them You are in the mean time saies the Chancellor a fine Fellow to come first to the King then to the Lord Powis and from thence to the Earl of Shaftsburys and discover to one what discourse you had with the other and go with one Story to the Earl of Shaftsbury and bring another to the Council And indeed the business appeared so plain to the Board that they committed him to Newgate by the following Warrant THese are in His Majesties Name to require you to 〈◊〉 into your Custody the person of Thomas Willoughby which was the Name he then went by herewith sent you for forgng Letters importing High Treason and fixing the same privately at Mr. Mansel's Chamber to render him Guilty thereof without cause And you are to keep him safe till he shall be delivered by due course of Law for which this shall be your Warrant Council-Chamber Whitehall October 27th 1679. To the Keeper of Newgate or his Deputy ANd now the wickedness which had hitherto hovered in the Dark Cavernes began to be more and more exposed for Mrs. Celliers House being searched the whole Scheam of their Villanies was found hid in a Tub of Meal they having assured themselves that none would be so scrutinous as to to search there whereupon she was apprehended and being examined concerning Mr. Dangerfield she said she had entertained him upon no other account than to get in desperate Debts However being sent to the Gate-House she presently dispatcht away a Paper to him telling him That now her Life lay in his hands and therefore directed him to confirm what she had said That he was taken into her House only to get in bad Debts c. sending him withal Twenty Shillings in Silver and a Guinney and two Books of Account that so he might Conover and be perfect in his Lesson But taking Caution by the unfortunate Mr. Coleman he resolved not to throw away his Life as he had done nor patiently consent to be Hanged to please the Conspirators Wherefore he made a full discovery of the whole Matter upon Oath before Sir Robert Clayton then Lord Mayor of London whereupon Sir Robert repaired to Whitehall and gave an account thereof to His Majesty who presently sent it to the Council and Dangerfield was thereupon by order of Council brought before them and was further examined by their Lordships who thereupon committed the Earl of Castlemain to the Tower Mr. Gadbury to the Gate-house Mrs. Cellier and Mr. Regaut to Newgate and the Countess and others into the Custody of His Majesties Messengers and the whole Design was at several times undeniably proved before them by innumerably concurring Circumstances and substantial Evidences and the Conspirators themselves confest the greatest part of it to be true But yet hoping to make the best of it and turn it off to the Lord Shaftsbury and the rest of the Protestants whose ruin they thirsted for their Oracle Gadbury pretended to make some great discovery in case His Majesty would grant him his Pardon which he Graciously promised to do But his Lordship hearing thereof and suspecting that those who had endeavoured to ruin him by a Plot to charge him with Treason and had failed of accomplishing it that way would not scruple at attempting to attain their end by false and feigned discoveries thereof desired that no Pardon might pass the Seal for Gadbury until he had first been heard in Council whereby he wisely prevented that mischief which was supposed to be designed against his Lordship by that Jesuited Star-gazing Caballistical Whiffler That which confirmed most men in their Opinion that he had some design against the Earl was this That although he did shortly after receive the King 's Gracious Pardon yet no discovery made by him was ever heard of to this day But these things were scarce over when another design to murther him is discovered by Francisco de Feria who deposed at the Bar of the House of Commons that being prefered to be Interpreter and Secretary of Languages to the Lord Gasper Abrew de Freitas Ambassador in Ordinary from the Prince of Portugal to the King of England The Ambassador perswaded him to kill the Earl of Shaftsbury by throwing a hand-Granado into his Coach which he said was easie to be done when his Lordship was travelling upon the Road into the Country which he did often What an heroick and magnanimous Soul must he then be master of that could so bravely bare up against all those boisterous Storms and continual Tempests which were perpetually raised against him by the art and malice of the Popish Crew And that notwithstanding those innumerable difficulties and dangers wherewith he was always surrounded and which still threatned his ruine the simple consideration of his own Innocence and Loyalty was able to maintain an undisturbed quiet and a perpetual Serenity within him But however these frequent disappointments inraged yet it did not discourage them from further Attempts against his Life and Honour but rather added to their fury and encreased their desire of revenge The next endeavour therefore to prove that he the Earl of Essex and the Lord Wharton had assisted Oates Tongue and Bedloe in contriving the Popish Plot. To which purpose they corrupted Mr. Blood and prevailed with him to write a treasonable Letter to Oates and then cause the Doctor 's Papers to be searched and rummaged in hope to find it there and so to prove him to be a Confederate with his Lordship and other Protestant Nobles But the Doctor sent the Letter to Sir Joseph Williamson then Secretary of State and thereby spoiled that Design whereupon they sent one Lewis to his Lordship to desire he would send by him the said Lewis some Directions to Dr. Oates under his Lordship 's own hand-writing how he should manage himself in reference to the Plot but the Earl absolutely denied to have any thing to do therewith And having failed in
this Project they next procured young Tongue Son to Dr. Tongue to prove that his Father the Earl of Shaftsbury and Oates invented the Popish Plot Whereupon one of the Lords of the Council asked him If they contrived Coleman's Letters too To which he could make no reply and indeed the whole business was so weak and ridiculous that it effected nothing more than the depressing the Wretch that was to have been the Evidence of it under the weight of his own Guilt he being committed to the King's-Bench where he hath ever since remained Besides their publick Designs they had several secret Projects and Artifices to accomplish his Ruine As forging of his Hand and other such like base and villanous Arts as appears by their intercepting Letters directed to his Lordship and after having incerted Treason in them in a hand as near the Original as they could possibly counterfeit transmitted them to such hands as would certainly acquaint our Ministers of State therewith but more especially a certain Gentleman who had commanded a Regiment of Horse in the Service of his late Majesty for whose sake and his present Majestie 's he suffered the loss of all that he had writ to the Earl about relieving him against the Gout with which he was much afflicted whose Letter was intercepted the person that writ it lived at that time in the Frengch King's Dominions and after they had added to it an account that the Writer was able to furnish the Earl with Forty thousand men from France to oppose the D. Y's Interest it was then convey'd to some of the French Ministers of State presuming they would send a Copy of it hither but by an over-ruling Providence the Letter was strangely return'd into the Gentleman's own hands whereby the mischief they intended was prevented His Majesty having prorogued the Parliament his Lordship together with the Earls of Huntington Clare Stamford c. the Lords North and Grey Chando's Grey Howard and Herbert being introduced to his Majestie 's Presence by his Highness Prince Rupert presented the following Petition and Advice to His Majesty SIR VVE are here to cast our selves at your Majestys feet being Ten of the Peers of Your Realm of England and in our own Names and in the Names of several others of our fellow Peers do humbly beg That Your Majesty would consider the great Danger Your Royal Person is in as also the Protestant Religion and the Government of these Your Nations We humbly pray that in a time when all these are so highly concerned Your Majesty will effectually use Your Great Council the Parliament SIR Out of the deepest sence of Duty and Loyalty to Your Majesty we offer it as our humble Advice and earnest Petition that the Parliament may sit at the time appointed and that Your Majesty would be Graciously pleased to give publick Notice and Assurance thereof that the minds of Your Majestys Subjects may be settled and their fear removed To this Petition and Advice His Majesty answered He would consider of what they had offered and told them that he heartily wished all other people were as solicitous for the peace and good of the Nation as he was and ever would be However he was pleased soon after to Prorogue the Parliament from the 26th of January till the 11th of November following About this time his Lordship was visited with a violent and dangerous fit of Sickness and his recovery was somewhat doubted of but Heaven was pleased to spare him to be a further Scourge and Terrour to the Papists those common Pests of Christendom and sworn Enemies to His Majesty and the English Nation The Romanists having tryed so many ways and different methods for accomplishing his Ruine resolved to try a new Stratagem for the effecting thereof viz. The tampering with Dugdale to retract his Evidence concerning the Popish-plot and endeavour to prevail with him to withdraw himself into some place beyond the Seas and leave a Writing behind him wherein he was to retract all he had sworn against the Papists and pretend that the occasion of his Retraction was an extream trouble and anguish of Conscience for having so unjustly and wickedly injured the Papists and procured the shedding of innocent blood affirming that it was by the instigation of his Lordship and other Protestants of unblemished Loyalty to His Majesty upon whom he was moreover to six the Odium of a Presbyterian Plot not only against the Papists but against His Majesties Person and Government But the mischief of it was they had not then Debauched his Conscience perswaded him to question the Truth of God's Omnisciency or wholly Erradicated the Beleif of a Deity out of his mind and thereby render him hardy enough to undertake so Barbarous a Work without any kind of Hissitation Wherefore being touched with some Remorse at so horrid a Villany he gave an account of the business to his Lordship and some others and so that design suffered the same fate with the rest and produced no other effect than exposing the malice of his Enemies and the informing him what he must live in a dayly expectation of from those indefatigable wretches and purchasers of Perjury by offers of two Thousand Pounds and promises of other Rewards and Gratitudes A Sum so considerable and Arguments so powerful and irresistable that it would have been a rarity much more amazing and would infinitly have transcended any of those called The Seven Wonders of the World if they should alwaies have been so unhappy as not to meet with some Profligate Villain or other who would upon those considerations engage to Swear whatsoever they should dictate and even defie the Almighty and storm Heaven it self to gain so immence a Treasure and acquire a Fortune so far above what their Birth or Education ever gave them a Prospect of In December 1680. he was present at and assisted in the trying William Viscount Stafford upon an Impeachment of the House of Commons for Ploting and Conspiring with the Pope and his Emissaries to Murther the King exterpate the Protestant Religion and subvert the Government of these Kingdoms and after a fair Tryal his Lordship with the Majority of the Peers sound him Guilty of the Treason whereof he stood Impeached upon which he received Sentence to be Hang'd Drawn and Quarter'd the rigour whereof was remitted by the Gracious Pleasure of His Majesty And not long after he was beheaded on a Scaffold erected for that purpose on Tower-Hill On the 10th of Jannuary His Majesty Prorogued the Parliament and on the 18th they were Dissolved by Proclamation and a New one summoned to meet at Oxford on the 21 st of the following March which being looked upon by his Lordship and divers others of the Nobility and Gentry to be ominous and attended with much hazard and danger and was afterwards really found to be so by some To prevent which the Earl joyned with several Noblemen in presenting a humble Petition and Advice full of Tenderness
and Affection Duty and Loyalty to His Majesty's Person and Government humbly requesting that the Parliament summoned to meet at Oxford might be Graciously permitted to meet and sit at Westminster It was presented to His Majesty by the Earl of Essex who acquainted the King with the design and intent of their Petition in the following words May it please Your Majesty THe Lords here present together with divers other Peers of the Realm taking notice that by your late Proclamation Your Majesty hath Declared an Intention of calling a Parliament at Oxford and observing from Histories and Records how unfortunate many such Assemblies have been when called at a place remote from the Capital City as particularly the Congress in Henry the Seconds time at Clarendon Three several Parliaments at Oxford in Henry the Thirds time and at Coventry in Henry the Sixths time with divers others which have proved very fatal to those Kings and have been followed with great mischief to the whole Kingdom And considering the present posture of Affairs the many Jealousies and Discontents which are among the People we have great cause to apprehend that the Consequences of the sitting of a Parliament now at Oxford may be as fatal to Your Majesty and the Nation as those others mentioned have been to the then Reigning Kings and therefore we do conceive that we cannot answer it to God to Your Majesty or to the People if we being Peers of the Realm should not on so important an occasion humbly offer our Advise to Your Majesty that if possible Your Majesty may be prevailed with to alter this as we apprehend unseasonable Resolution The Grounds and Reasons of our Opinion are contained in this our Petition which we humbly present to Your Majesty To the Kings most excellent Majesty The humble Petition and Advice of the Lords undernamed Peers of the Realm Humbly sheweth THat whereas Your Majesty hath been pleased by divers Spechees and Messages to Your Houses of Parliament rightly to present to them the dangers that threaten Your Majesties Person and the whole Kingdom from the mischievous and wicked Plots of the Papists and the suddain growth of a forreign Power unto which no stop or remedy could be provided unless it were by Parliament and an Vnion of Your Majesties Protestant Subjects in one Mind and one Interest And the Lord Chancellor in pursuance of Your Majesties Commands having more at large demonstrated the said dangers to be as great as we in the midst of our fears could imagine them and so pressing that our Liberties Religion Lives and the whole Kingdom would certainly be lost if a speedy provision was not made against them And Your Majesty on the 21st of April 1679. having called unto Your Council many Honourable and Worthy Persons and Declared to them and to the whole Kingdom That being sensible of the Evil Effects of a single Ministry or private Advice or forreign Committee for the general Direction of Your Affairs Your Majesty would for the future refer all things unto that Council and by the constant Advice of them together with the frequent use of Your great Council the Parliament Your Majesty was hereafter resolved to govern the Kingdom We began to hope we should see an end of our Miseries But to our unspeakable grief and sorrow we soon found our expectations frustrated the Parliament then subsisting was Prorogued and Dissolved before it could perfect what was intended for our relief and security And tho' another was thereupon called yet by many Prorogations it was put off till the 21st of October past and notwithstanding Your Majesty was then again pleased to acknowledge that neither your Person nor your Kingdom could be safe till the Matter of the Plot was gone through It was unexpectedly Prorogued on the 10th of this Month before any sufficient Order could be taken therein All their just and pious endeavours to save the Nation were overthrown the good Bills they had been industriously preparing to Vnite Your Majesties Protestant Subjects brought to nought The discovery of the Irish Plots stifled The Witnesses that came in frequently more fully to Declare that both of England and Ireland discouraged Those forreign Kingdoms and States who by a happy Conjunction with us might give a check to the French Powers disheartned even to such a despair of their own security against the growing greatness of that Monarch as we fear may enduce them to take New Resolutions and perhaps such as may be fatal to Vs the Strength and Courage of our Enemies both at home and abroad encreased and our selves left in the utmost danger of seeing our Country brought into utter desolation In these extremities we had nothing under God to comfort us but the hopes that Your Majesty being touched with the groans of your perishing People would have suffered Your Parliament to meet at the day unto which it was Prorogued and that no further interruption should have been given to their proceedings in order to their saving of the Nation But that failed us too so then we heard that Your Majesty had been prevailed with to Dissolve it and to call another to meet at Oxford where neither Lords nor Commons can be in safety but will be dayly exposed to the Swords of the Papists and their Adherents of whom too many are crept into Your Majesties Guards The Liberty of speaking according to their Consciences will be thereby destroyed and the validity of all their Acts and Proceedings consisting in it left disputable The straitness of the place no way admits of such a concourse of persons as now follows every Parliament The Witnesses which are necessary to give Evidence against the Popish Lords such Judges or others whom the Commons have impeached or had resolved to impeach can neither bear the charge of going thither nor trust themselves under the Protection of a Parliament that is it self evidently under the power of Guards and Souldiers The Premises considered We Your Majesties Petitioners out of a just abhorrence of such a dangerous and pernicious Council which the Authors have not dared to avow and the direful apprehensions of the calamities and miseries that may ensue thereupon do make it our most humble Prayer and Advice that the Parliament may not sit at a place where it will not be able to Act with that freedom which is necessary and especially to give unto their Acts and Proceedings that Authority which they ought to have amongst the people and have ever had unless impaired by some Awe upon them of which there wants not presidents and that Your Majesty would be Graciously pleased to order it to sit at Westminster it being the usual place and where they may consult with Safety and Freedom And Your Petitioners c. Monmouth Kent Huntingdon Bedford Salisbury Clare Stamford Essex Shaftsbury Mordent Ewers Paget Grey Herbert Howard Delamer BUt His Majesty resolving not to alter His Resolution for the Parliaments setting at Oxford and the time of their metting